www.WOW.com's

According to Juipter Research online sales are expected to jump 20% from this time last year. Very exciting! A big part of this has to do with e-retailers getting with the program and realizing that shipping rates are traditionally one of the biggest reasons people don't shop online.

So what do you see now...Free Shipping everywhere! It's most definitely the hottest promotion around. The bad news is that with consumers being emotionally trained to expect a free shipment it's lost it's novel appeal. Therefore, unless you have some impossible to find product you'll have to humble yourself and do a free shipping promo if you want to stay competitive.

Since you'll basically have to do this for your customers....I'll share a few tips you may want to use to make it easier on your profit margin.....

Qualify your shipping- Don't get too tricky with this one. Set a feasible minimum purchase to prevent losing money on small shipments.


Try Easy to Digest Discounts--A dollar doesn't sound like much but if you ship a lot of product it could make up for some of your costs. Some customers are just looking for an easy fee instead of a sliding scale where it's as if the more they buy the more they're punished with higher shipping charges. Keep it sweet, simple and flat. $1 shipping, $3 shipping or even $5 works...


Shop Around for Shipping Options--Don't just assume your current shipping provider has the best rates...rates change and depending on the volume and weight of the product you ship you could be up for some great discounts. So shop around....

Online sales are on the move...don't forget to also research what your competitors are doing so you can be sure to get your piece of the action...

Desparate for Product Placement

I had a chance meeting in Atlanta with the director of Business Development for Compulsion.

Compulsion what? The guy claimed it was revolutionary. Whatever...everything's revolutionary these days. I've been known as a hard nut to crack but once I watched the Compulsion demo on his laptop I knew...right then...right there. These folks were about change the world of Ecommerce.

Well, everyone knows the sexy stepsister of advertising has always been product placement. However the biggest problem with product placement is the frustration it presents. Yeah, I've wondered what type of blackberry McDreamy was using or what lip gloss Gabby had on the last episode of Desparate Housewives. I mean we all think about those things....Don't we?? But what are you supposed to do...Google it and hope it comes up? That's so 2006.

Right now in 2007.... someone has figured it out! Check out www.compulsion.tv. You've never seen anything like it. It gives you the ability to watch a show right on your laptop and click on anything to buy it. ANYTHING! So yes Mr. Shaw you are right Compulsion is revolutionary. Thanks again for giving me a sneak peak.

Say NO More....

I taught a web marketing seminar this Thursday hosted by Fashion Business Inc. located in“lovely,” downtown LA. One of the audience members whom I'll refer to as "George," asked the pointed question "Do retailers get upset when a wholesale company they buy from decides to sell online?"

This is something I’ve been asked time and time again….and something I’ve had to personally address as an Ecommerce project manager. It’s a very rational assumption, and if you’re a smart business person trying to cover all your bases it is definitely a reasonable question to give a thought to. “A Thought” notice the singular tense. I thought of answering that question with one word which would have been “NO," but of course I had to elaborate.

So, Let’s think about this….. I’m a loyal retail buyer, purchasing your product by the hundreds...so why in the world do you feel like you need to open a fabulous online store that will make MY customers drop me like a wet rag and buy from you?. .

The good thing is most retailers aren’t that insecure. Their store is about an experience they create which your product is only a portion of. The essence of a good boutique is the collection….where the buyer produces something where the whole is bigger than the sum of all parts.

Think about Intermix, Scoop, Shopbop. These successful stores’ merchandise mix, marketing and presentation make them successful. Whether or not you decide to sell on line is typically not an invasion on their customer or the sales of a particular product. Between the stresses of running a retail store they really shouldn’t even have time to give a damn. (excuse my french;)

Recently many luxury wholesalers such as Bottega Venata, Gucci and Diane Von Furstenberg have gotten the picture and pulled the veil off of their online stores.

Selling online has become a great branding technique and is also a revenue stream in the sense that transfers you into becoming a multi channel enterprise. In short Ecommerce can be a phenomenal way to strategically grow your business.

We did talk about it quite a bit. "George," understood and followed up with this question. ”What about taking about selling it for like 10% less than other retailers since you have a bigger margin???” My gosh “George,” just wanted it all. Now that my friend is equivalent to launching a website that has your middle finger on the front of it...then sending it to all of your current and prospective accounts. The answer to that question…..is actually four words “no…no and absolutely not.” And I'll say no more about it.

The Art of the Email

I love J.crew but that company used to blow my email up. It seemed as if every day they felt like they had some new product or campaign or sale they wanted to email me about. I did myself a favor and unsubscribed.

That brings me to my topic of email strategy. We talked about the importance of website analytics and understanding your conversion rate in the previous post. Now I want to discuss how to boost your conversion of viewers to buyers by the highest Return On Investment marketing tool available...yes folks you got it..."The Email!"

With email marketing you want to have a strategy. You don't want people to unsubscribe case and point my J. Crew situation. However, you want to reach out to your customers as much as possible with the most relevant information...that keeps them engaged and most importantly not totally annoyed.

The best way to do this is to use a system such as campaigner by gotcorp.com to manage your email database. This easy to use online service will allow you to see who's opening your emails, when they're opening them , if they click through to your site and forward it on amongst other things. There are so many things you can learn about your customers..and email marketing makes it easy and cheap as long as you know how to analyze the information you have and put it to good use.

So let's isolate one point to get you started in creating your email marketing strategy. I advise that any serious marketer with a database over 100 people learn how to segment their customers. Segmenting your customers means putting them in a category based on who they are or their behavior patterns. That way you can always send them emails that are most relevant and that they are more likely to open. Relevant information helps your prospective customers to Trust you....you will establish integrity...and people will be happy to see your business in their inbox.

Example.... Let's say you sell men's clothes, childrens' clothes and baby clothes. It will behove you to take a look at your sales and see exactly who's buying what. If one of your good customers buys a lot of merchandise and it's always mens product...why bother them with an email about children's clothes. Yeah, they may have a niece...or little cousin or something that the decide to give a gift to but the reality is their core purchases have been in mens clothing. You don't want to inundate them with emails about kids...and baby clothing to the point where they're hearing a little bit too much from you and realize that you don't even understand who they are. Bottom line is people in in retail and in life like to feel special.

Once you group your customers according to their purchase patterns. You can market to them accordingly sending each group what they would be most interested in. You'll find yourself with higher click through rates and less unsubscribes. People will know you are approaching them specifically and have a good offer that will be of their interest. If they think they are part of one of your big endless campaigns that runs every week.... it won't be long before you end up unopened...and in the junk folder. What a sad way to go:(

A Boost for your Online Boutique...

If you're really looking to boost the sales in your online store ask your web designer about web analytics. Not now....but right now!

Analyzing your site can make a world....yes...yes...a WORLD of difference in your sales and conversion rates (the number of viewers that become buyers).

There's a lot you can learn from your web analytics but If I had an online boutique I would start by learning my conversion rate. Here's how you do it.....

Let's assume that you have a decent number of visitors coming to your site. Decent is relative-- depending on the product you sell... so if you're a small boutique and you have 100 visitors per day take a second to be happy with that.

Within that second you want to find out how many of your viewers are actually buying, to calculate your conversion rate.

Take the # of visitors and divide it by the number of buyers.

It goes like this: 3 buyers/100 visitors= 3% conversion rate

Most apparel companies hover around 3% conversion, which is commonly known as the industry standard. Find your number. Oh, and make sure you look at your "unique visitors," and don't look at your "hits." This is a common mistake as hits are how many times someone clicks anywhere on your site so one person may account for 50 hits. If you want a true number of how many individuals are coming to your site ask your web designer to give you your"unique visitors," number.

Converting your existing visitors to buyers thus raising your conversion rate can happen a lot quicker and is way more cost effective than marketing to find new customers. You still want to find new visitors but starting with your exsiting customers is the best strategy.

So...now that your know your conversion rate how do you raise it??.....Email Marketing is #1 and it has the absolute highest ROI (return on investment) of all marketing vehicles. We'll talk more in my next post.... Go Ahead and find your conversion percent today...then we'll pick up where we left off!

Boutiques...Put your .com to work

9 times outta 10 in most large companies the .com is the highest producing store. Um hummm... For example Gap.com produces more than any individual store does on its own, even the huge flagships. This is the absolute norm for most retailers.

Therefore it can be the absolute norm for your boutique. With very little over head your online component can be the proverbial cash cow driving your business.

I have to be honest with you...developing a profitable online store is a lot of work..it's time consuming and its tedious. Did I mention it was tedious...and it's really not as simple as it seems. The good news is that at the end of the day it's worth every additional penny and ounce of effort and will pay for itself many times over.

Here is my 2cents on setting up your boutique .com....

1. Do It Right- If you feel like you have to go cheap and cheesy to get online---just wait. A great Ecommece site doesn't have to be crazy expensive but it absolutely must be Attractive and Fully Functional.

2. Be Prepared- A successful Ecommerce site is trusted...meaning it's not down or--- so out of stock that it might as well be down. Keep fresh products and give people a constant reason to come and to come back.

3. Market....Market....Market- The cool thing about marketing on the web is that there are so many options to drive traffic to your site. Email advertising has the highest return on investment of any other vehicle. The cheapest and most effective...now that's just fabulous.


In closing...at some point or the other if you want to grow your business you have to stop playing and get with the program. Selling online is it. PERIOD.

If you need help there are books, websites and consultants like myself that can help you out. But whatever you need to do make it happen....Make it Happen!